Incentives and rebates agreed in a lease are not always paid as agreed. Elite Retail Leasing helps retail tenants establish what they are owed, build the case, and pursue recovery — working alongside your legal advisers where formal action is needed.
Rebates, fitout contributions, rent abatements and capital contributions are negotiated hard at the start of a lease and then, too often, forgotten. Milestones are missed, invoices go unanswered, personnel change on the landlord side, and the amount sits unpaid until it is written off internally.
These are contractual entitlements. They do not expire because a leasing manager moved on. But recovering them requires the same thing any claim requires: clear documentation, a correct reading of the lease and incentive deed, and consistent escalation.
We have managed leasing litigation and rebate recovery for tenants across multi-site portfolios, and we know how these claims are assessed on the landlord side — which matters when you are deciding how hard to push and where to settle.
We review the lease, incentive deed, side letters and correspondence to establish precisely what was agreed, what conditions attach to it, and what has actually been paid.
Most claims fail on evidence rather than on merit. We assemble the paper trail — agreed terms, milestone completion, invoices issued, responses received — in a form that stands up if the matter escalates.
The majority of rebate claims settle commercially once they are properly presented to the right person at the landlord. This is almost always faster and cheaper than a formal dispute.
Where negotiation stalls, retail tenancy disputes in Victoria are ordinarily referred to the Victorian Small Business Commission for mediation before proceeding to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal. Other states have equivalent bodies. We prepare the commercial case and support your solicitor through that process.
You may still be trading in that centre for years. We pursue recovery in a way that keeps the wider relationship workable wherever possible.
Please note: Elite Retail Leasing provides commercial leasing consultancy, not legal services. Where a matter requires legal advice or formal proceedings, we work alongside your solicitor rather than in place of them.
Not necessarily. Contractual entitlements do not disappear simply because time has passed, though limitation periods do apply and vary by jurisdiction. The first step is an entitlement audit to establish what is owed and what the documentation supports; your solicitor can then advise on any time limits.
No. We are retail leasing consultants. We build and negotiate the commercial case, and where formal proceedings are required we work alongside your legal advisers, who conduct the litigation itself.
Retail tenancy disputes in Victoria are generally referred to the Victorian Small Business Commission for mediation first, and proceed to VCAT if mediation does not resolve the matter. Most claims we handle settle well before that point.
Tell us about your site, your lease or your growth plans. We will tell you where you stand — directly, and without obligation.
© Elite Retail Leasing — Retail Leasing Consultants, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia